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Throughout Michigan’s history, the diverse backgrounds of Detroit’s population have given the city a cosmopolitan atmosphere and made it a magnet for a broad spectrum of cultural activity. The state’s first traveling theatrical companies performed in Detroit, and an opera house was erected there before the American Civil War. In 1819 the Young Men’s Society was organized by Lewis Cass, an early American politician and civic leader, to promote debates, lectures, and general intellectual life. In the major parks the city of Detroit promoted band concerts and, later, symphony concerts to bring other types of music to thousands. In the mid-20th century, Berry Gordy, Jr., founded in Detroit one of the most successful and influential recording companies in the history of the rock and popular music industry—Motown.
Historically, the rural populations have cultivated different sorts of cultural pursuits than have their urban counterparts. The pioneer farmers channeled much of their artistic energy and cultural creativity into such events as community dances and seasonal county fairs. Today, a wide variety of local fairs and festivals continue to take place throughout the state. Many of the smaller cities emphasize Homecoming Day, usually the anniversary date of the incorporation of the community. The city of Holland’s Tulip Time Festival, held each May, has become an event of more than local importance. Several cities in the north commemorate the lumbering era with Paul Bunyan Days. Traverse City sponsors a popular National Cherry Festival. Additional seasonal festivals celebrate the harvest of blueberries, strawberries, asparagus, and other locally important products. Ethnic groups in many cities, including Detroit, sponsor festivals to celebrate their cultural heritage. The annual Bavarian Festival in Frankenmuth, for instance, pays tribute to the community’s German roots but enjoys broad appeal.
Cultural institutions
The Detroit Institute of Arts, founded in 1885, houses one of the country’s major collections of ancient and contemporary art from around the world. The Muskegon Museum of Art, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum also have won wide recognition. Lansing is home to the Michigan Historical Museum, famous for its military and Native American collections, while many county museums commemorate local history. In Grand Rapids, the Gerald R. Ford Museum chronicles the lives and times of former U.S. president Gerald R. Ford and his wife, Betty Ford. The Museum of African American History in Detroit chronicles the role of African Americans in the development of Detroit, the state of Michigan, and the United States as a whole. The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, both in Dearborn, feature exhibits of Americana and detail Ford’s role in the history of automobile manufacturing. The Michigan Historical Commission has designated sites of historic importance, such as the location of early settlements and the first home of the Ford Motor Company. The state museum, archives, and library are housed together in a single building in Lansing that showcases the state’s cultural resources.
Aside from the major public libraries in Michigan’s larger cities, there are a number of specialized libraries, among the most notable of which are the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, specializing in American history; the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library, specializing in local history and genealogy; the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University, with collections on state and regional history; and the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, focusing on events of the Cold War era.
Sports and recreation
Organized team sports in Michigan began with the establishment of baseball teams in several cities during the late 1850s and early 1860s. In 1881, when the Detroit team began to compete nationally, the state’s love affair with the Tigers began. Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, and Al Kaline are just a few of the inductees of the Baseball Hall of Fame who have played for the Tigers. Detroit also is home to the National Basketball Association’s Pistons (whose “Bad Boys” won back-to-back championships in 1988–90) and the National Football League’s Lions (whose heyday was in the 1950s, although running back Barry Sanders scampered in the record books into the 1990s). To many in Michigan, professional hockey surpasses baseball, basketball, and football as the spectator sport of choice. The Detroit Red Wings have an especially devoted following and are many-time winners of the Stanley Cup championship of the National Hockey League; the team has earned Detroit the nickname “Hockeytown, U.S.A.”
College sports have a major presence in Michigan as well, topped by a pair of rivals who participate in the Big Ten Conference: the University of Michigan, which has excelled especially at gridiron football through renowned coaches such as Fielding Yost and Bo Schembechler, and Michigan State University, which is best known for a basketball tradition that includes a pair of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships and the storied player Magic Johnson. Michigan State has also won several NCAA hockey championships, as have the University of Michigan and Michigan Technical University. Elsewhere in the state, fans follow the fortunes of the teams that represent several smaller universities in the Mid-American Conference. In Division II competition, Grand Valley State University has won numerous national championships in gridiron football.
Outdoor recreation in Michigan is dominated by woods and water. As early as the 1830s, the Great Lakes were a favourite vacation lure, particularly for residents of the eastern states. In 1919 Michigan began to develop a park system, which now encompasses nearly 100 state-operated parks and more than a dozen state recreation areas. Many places along the shores of the Great Lakes and smaller inland lakes are lined with summer cottages, and residents of southern Michigan and tourists from other areas flock to these areas and to the state’s forests to swim, fish, hike, and hunt. Among the most popular outdoor-recreation sites are the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, on Lake Michigan in the northwestern Lower Peninsula, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, the Huron National Wildlife Refuge, and the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, all on Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula.
Media and publishing
Michigan has some 300 newspapers, including dailies, weeklies, monthlies, and others that circulate at regular intervals. Of the dailies, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News are the most prominent, and they circulate throughout the state. The Flint Journal also is widely read. The Grand Rapids Press is the major daily in western Michigan, and the Lansing State Journal serves the central part of the state.